Pigeon, mmmmm Pigeon

First an aside: I've been told to drink more. Now anyone reading posts about me cooking with wine will find that a little surprising, but what I've been told to drink more of is water. So from now on you can call me 'camel girl'. Oh, and if you see me, please remind me to drink more.

Yesterday was a lovely day for a foodie, made even better because there were two of us out and about enjoying an accidentally fruitful shopping trip and a glorious autumn day. I bought Hwsgo a lovely bottle of wine (De Bortoli Yarra Valley reserve Chardonnary 2003?) to celebrate something a while ago; unfortunately it appears to have been one of the last bottles stocked by Oddbins, but fortunately after a little Internet searching we found a place near Eastbourne with some in stock. So off we drove to Hailsham Cellars, and a lovely journey it was, taking in some game shopping, a pub lunch, two cycle rides, a car museum, miniature train ride and a very serious game of crazy golf. And when we got to Hailsham Cellars, Hwsgo not only found exactly what he wanted, but he also made a new friend - the wonderfully friendly shop-owner - and found lots of lovely grape juice to drool over too. Heartily recommended, and a lovely place to sit and watch Hwsgo happily explore.

And the game shopping. We were having a moochy, lets-see-what-comes-up-and-do-what-we-feel-like day. And amongst other things, what came up was a sign for "Over ready game". So we followed the signs over a couple of country miles (like normal miles, but longer) and found South Brockwell Farm Shop. In Simon terms, it was like Christmas coming early: lots of the things that I haven't been able to find, even in the great game butchers near home. So we bought two fat pigeons, two - erm small birds that I'll have to ask Hwsgo about - and a nice plump piece of rabbit. And today we had the Roast Pigeon with Braised Lettuce, Peas and Bacon (page 155), with the pigeon that it was intended for (instead of the partridge that I used on the 9th January). Hwsgo cooked it whilst I was in the gym. The veg were as yummy as I remembered, and the pigeon was wonderfully richly liver textured and tasting. I think we may be going back there again soon too (probably on the way to the wine shop).

A long slow descent and a Simon (Spinach Dumplings, p200)

An active bank holiday this. But first, the news from the scales... 6 days as follows: 177, 177, 176, 176, 175, 175. Yes, really. It would be nice if this series could continue... And exercise: two bike rides (33 miles and 34 miles, rides 4 and 2 from the OS book for Sussex etc). One fitness test: 14.33 for 1.5 miles, 28 press-ups, 30 sit-ups and a faintly pathetic number of floor pull-ups (with a retest every month from now) and a bootcamp circuit (just getting the hang of medicineball press-ups, but only just: my arms gave out on them tonight, as did S's). And a lovely little (4-6 miles?) walk in the country. Hwsgo, despite my worries about his fitness for the bike rides, surprised me enormously by not only being fit but also dashing away from me most of the way round. Although we were both terrible hill-crawlers on the first ride, by the second ride we were improving, and Hwsgo at least seems to have his grimp sorted now. I've now threatened to go to spinning classes (static bikes) until I can catch him on a hill again. Erm, I mean at all.

Foodwise, there has been a Simon, but no picture (too tired to face either the stairs or the hunt for the digital camera). Spinach Dumplings: a mix of blanched spinach and cheese, pepped up with nutmeg and pepper then cooled, formed into balls and boiled in a pan. Hwsgo loved them, but I don't think I'd actively try to cook them again, especially if the choice was between them and Parmesan Fritters. Worth noting though is the optimal ball size: inch-wide balls cooked a little too fast leaving quite dry balls; 2.5 inches was too big, with not-quite-cooked middles; 1.5 inch balls were just right, crisp without being dry and cooked through with a good crunchy shell. Oh, and coating the balls in lots and lots of flour helped a lot too.

A cheesecake also happened. And has been left behind by Hwsgo in an attempt to even up our weight loss distribution. I'd say that I could resist, but I can't. Never have been able to resist a good home-cooked carrot cake, and am not about to start resisting now. The good side is that the cake won't last much longer. The bad side is that I will have single-forkedly eaten it.

Onwards...

More Simons

I've been a little remiss about writing this blog of late. Food has happened, exercise has happened, weight has happened (both up and down), yet the keyboard has remained silent. My apologies, gentle invisible readers.

So. Some delicious Simons have happened of late. Except it wasn't me cooking them: all the glorious credit should go squarely to Hwsgo and his equally glorious culinary talent. Which Simons? Poulet Saute au Viaigre (page 40) happened last weekend, but I can't right now remember what the earlier Simons were. I remember them being absolutely delicious though.

1 Simon: Braised Endives

I have been quite bad (very bad is reserved for very special occasions) and not released the review of Hwsgo's Braised Endives yet. This is partly system rebuild (the photos are elsewhere) and partly a wrestling with my conscience about whether I could claim a Simon that someone else (albeit someone very close) cooked. So this is a review, right, unless I get down the wire with the 'how many Simons did I manage to cook in 2 years (note the more relaxed timetabling slipping in there)' thing.

Hwsgo braised the endives (and has done so at least twice since, which is possibly a good measure of how good the recipe is) at the same time as grilling some nice fat Cornish sardines, neither of which took an excessive amount of time (less than half an hour). It was truly excellent and classic Simon: rich and comforting, with enough sauce to enjoy again with bread at the end of the meal. Oh, you wanted me to review the food? Later...

1 recipe: Smoked Haddock Baked with Potatoes (p?)

First difference between book versions spotted! I cooked this using Hwngo's book (first edition hardback, well-thumbed and -ahem- slightly foxed with various food products, aka much loved...) . My version suggests removing the fish bones with tweezers; his doesn't (I didn't; the chances of finding tweezers in a batchelor pad are... well, quite good actually, but I didn't want to ask...).

I'm starting to think that West Sussex is deeply conservative/ old-fashioned. Again I had problems finding good fish, so I went to the fish man at Tesco's yesterday lunchtime (he knows his halibut); no smoked haddock because he tends to get this in at the end of the week. I can only conclude that there are either a lot of weekend Simon cookbook users in the area, or there are still lots of people here eating fish on a Friday. Anyways, 3 packs of the thickest lumps of fish I could find later...

There are 3 layers of potatoes in this recipe and not a lot of cooking time (1 hour in total), so slice the potatoes very thin (mine were about 1mm) or risk having them crunchy at the end. I bought a whole bag of parsley but only used half of it; the recipe would have coped well with all of it. I overpoached the fish slightly and had a long job removing the skins; 15 minutes poaching instead of 20-25 would have made this an easier job and left the fish a little less flaky.

The layers worked well but I forgot to put potatoes on last and ended up with some decorative tomato slices on top. This didn't really make a difference, aside from putting some colour in the (yummy) brown crust. The result was edible. Not the most spectacular-tasting Simon so far, but a dependable cold-evening recipe nonetheless.

Hwngo made one of his excellent rhubarb crumbles. He says it's easy to make, but I think that really translates to 'easy to make if you have years of cooking experience'.

1 recipe: onion tart (P136); 1 rotw: millionaire shortbread; 1 experiment: arab-style sweetmeats

First, the shortbread. From a Guardian recipe, and a special request from Hwngo in return for starting running again. 1 square = 1 40-minute run. Which means I'll either go shortbreadless or have to fit a run in sometime tomorrow.

It is almost impossible to buy unsalted peanuts after 7pm here: Sainsbury and Tescos both nada. I wonder why: is it a response to increasing peanut allergies, or the perceived unhealthiness of this very fatty nut? In the end, I resorted to buying salted peanuts and soaking them in water until they didn't taste of salt anymore.

I have learnt a few things from this recipe. You can beat up peanuts in a pestle and mortar reasonably successfully (the magimix is unwell and I keep forgetting to buy it a new fuse) . The base expands to about twice its original size and smells truly deeply disgusting when it first comes out of the oven (but only for about half an hour), and it's a bad idea to slip and drop most of a can of cold cream into a panful of hot sugar. I think there may be toffee lumps in my caramel; the not-so-innocent should be warned...

The experiment worked nicely. I had some leftover pastry from the onion tart (more soon), some dates and apples hanging around and some grated pistachios (yes, really; from a Greek supermarket in North London) in the cupboard. Thin slice and dice the apples, rough chop and de-stone the dates, mix with some lemon juice and a little sugar, then divide the mix out into small pastry cases (think exotic mince pies). Bake at 180 for about 20-25 minutes, then devour because you've been so excited about cooking that you've forgotten to eat supper. Relax.

The onion tart is meant to be a surprise but of course won't be if Hwngo reads this before I arrive. I thought it best to take extra supplies (am doing Smoked Haddock Baked with Potatoes and Cream tomorrow) lest the poor thing have to suffer his own gourmet cooking. I mean, chocolate, cream and butter could happen. Oh. They already have. Whoops.

1 recipe: Saffron Soup with Mussels (p180)

I'm busy tomorrow, so I shopped tonight. The Friday plan has firmed up to Chocolate Bavarois, Creme Anglaise and Poached Salmon with Buerre Blanc (possibly in that order); tonight was meant to be Piedmontese Peppers but I forgot the anchovies, so it's just as well that I went a little OTT and sourced the ingredients for Saffron Soup With Mussels too. Which I'm cooking now.

The wine, as always, took longest to find (the gelatine leaves took a while too). I think this is essentially a soup version of Moules Mariniere, so I fancied a good dry German white in it. Sainsburys has the teensiest of German selections. Minute: only a few bottles hidden between the all-conquering spanish and french. Which made the choice difficult: a cheap bottle and risk it, or something more expensive that may be risking it anyways. In the end, I settled for an Ernst Loosen Riesling. And in traditional style, I'm going to cook half and personally evaporate the rest... tasting notes to follow... hmmm... apricots. Well, more like biting the fesh around an apricot pit; like the stuff you paint on to stop nailbiting, slightly bitter but strangely inviting. And sweeter than I expected.

Final straits now... waiting for the potato to soften so I can put in the mussels and declare the soup done. But there doesn't appear to be enough liquid for this to really be called a soup. I'll see what happens, but for now it seems somehow wrong. Tasty, but wrong.

My god it's good. The cream was enough to push it over the liquid edge from stew to soup, and it's no more an extension of Moules Mariniere than Jordan is an extension of Debbie Harry. It's rich, complex, smooth on the taste but plays off the crunch of the potato (I was sure mashing them was best, but no, this works well) against the tang and suck of the mussels. Kids, please try this at home. And invite me round to supper. Please? I only have a giant bowlful left...

Plans for today

Today is a good day to buy and cook a chicken to the next book recipe (poulet poche). And to attempt an rotw (lemon meringue pie) at the same time. And maybe consider buying a straightjacket in advance.

I was so out-of-sorts that Hwsgo cooked the chicken instead and we missed the lemon meringue completely. He was ever so sweet, and re-did Simon's roast chicken recipe for us; we bought a big bird (2.4kg, the smallest they had) at Allen Martin Meats; it was a good bird, but I think a little too large for the recipe; we got good firm flesh, but not quite as infused with lemon and herbs as the earlier one had been. The really really good thing was the banana shallots that Hwsgo packed around the baking tray (with roast potatoes; also good, but not as spectacular); they picked up the butter sauce, and caramelised into melt-in-the-mouth sweetness. We also finally found a use for the comedy turkey baster that's been sat in my kitchen drawer for the past year: it really does work, and it saves an awful lot of fishing around in the baking tray with a spoon.